Police Seek Public’s Help in Solving Slayings of 2 in Valley

Authorities on Thursday asked for the public’s help in solving two unrelated shootings that left two men dead in the San Fernando Valley.

During a news conference outside the Los Angeles Police Department’s Van Nuys station, police and family members pleaded for witnesses to come forward.

Relatives of Alvin George Flowers Jr., 25, tearfully asked for help in finding the gunman who shot Flowers several times in the chest.

Flowers’ body was found shortly after noon Monday in front of an apartment complex in the 15000 block of Sherman Way in Van Nuys.

Police identified Dandre Damone Sewell, 20, as the prime suspect.

Sewell, who has a criminal record, should be considered armed and dangerous, police said. His last known address was in the Wilshire area, but investigators said he could be living in the Valley or Palmdale.

“No one would want their child to die in this manner,” said Sweets Sterling Strong, Flowers’ aunt, as she stood with the victim’s mother, LaTanya Wilson, and cousin, Savora Wilson.

“We’re reaching out to anyone who may have seen or heard something,” Strong said.

The other shooting occurred about 4 a.m. March 14 near Sepulveda Boulevard and Hatteras Street in Van Nuys.

The victim, David Earl Cosgrove, 21, was walking home from a bar with a nephew after celebrating Cosgrove’s birthday when he was approached by two men who demanded money, police said.

As the nephew was running from the robbers, police said, he heard a shot and turned to watch his uncle fall to the ground and the robbers run away.

Cosgrove died at a local hospital.

“I can’t tell you how important he was to us,” said the victim’s mother, Dee Cosgrove, who was surrounded by relatives and her son’s co-workers from the city Department of Public Works. “I am pleading with anyone with information to call.”

Van Nuys homicide detectives can be contacted at (818) 756-8370 or (877) 525-8601.